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February 13, 2012

Video Blog #5: This week

In a post-war future
world where First Contact has been made, humans are colonizing the
stars, and the nations of Earth have been united under a central
government, Extrahumans are required by law to belong to the Union. When
a young man with visions of the future sets out on a mission to define
the course of human history, he encounters a devastated former hero, a
fascist dictatorship bent on world domination, and the realities of
living in a society where affiliation is everything.Broken figured she
was done with heroics when she lost the ability to fly and fled the
confinement of the Extrahuman Union. But then the world started to fall
apart around her, and the mysterious Michael Forward entered her life,
dangling the possibility of redemption and rebirth.Michael Forward can
see the future, but all he wants is to escape the destiny he has
struggled against all his life. When the moment comes, though, he finds
he can't refuse. Now he needs the help of a homeless ex-superhero to
save a baby who may be the key to humanity's freedom.Monica had a good
life with her large family, until two strangers and a baby showed up at
her door. Now her family is gone, her life is in ruins, and she's on the
run from the law.In a time of spreading darkness, when paranoia and
oppression have overtaken the world, can three unlikely allies preserve a
small ray of hope for a better, brighter future? From Goodreads.com

Connie thought freshman year might suck. She never thought it'd be literal.

Bad dreams? No big deal. After all, Connie Perez is starting her
first year in the prep school her mom runs. Anyone would be a little
stressed, right? When she starts dreaming about strange creatures and
places that don't make sense, she doesn't think much about it: there's
other stuff on her mind. Then she starts noticing that the people she
dreams about get sick right afterwards.

Then everything gets weird.

There's something bad on the campus of Springden Academy. Something
that feeds on students and warps their minds. And, as Connie and her
friends try to figure out what's going on, it starts to look like she's
the only one who can stop it.

Freshman year was hard enough without having to fight evil after class.

Hickey of the Beast is a hilarious look at coming of age in a school
where there are no secrets, but plenty of mysteries, and where
supernatural studies take on a whole new meaning. It's a story about all
the things that make growing up hell: boys, history class, annoying
little brothers, and saving the world from evil. When the supernatural
comes to school, it's no field day - and that's before you factor in
homework. From Goodreads.com

Kit’s only goal is to
stay alive. Right now, that means dodging brutal gangs while peddling
fake I.D.s on the back streets of Winnipeg. But things get complicated
when Kit sells a license to a girl named Aura—a girl who could almost be
her twin. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Kit is plunged
into an underground society with heart-stopping surprises at every turn.
To protect herself, she’s forced to assume Aura’s identity. But storm
clouds are gathering on the horizon, and when Kit learns the truth about
Aura, she knows she has to get out before the storm breaks. There’s
only one problem: escape isn’t an option.

Max Vinyl’s type of
success story can only happen in America. Rising from humble beginnings,
he has reached the height of the computer recycling racket. Problem is,
he’s using Lake Michigan as his own personal profit center. Even that
wouldn't have been a problem if his environmentalist girlfriend Tris
hadn't found out his dirty secret. And while Max is devastated by his
love crashing down around him, he’s about to learn that the rage of a
woman scorned packs far more firepower and potential for destruction
than he had ever imagined.

Iraqi War veteran Annie Ogden has spent three depression-filled
months living in a cabin in a forest preserve trying to re-discover her
purpose in life. When two of Max’s thugs threaten Annie’s sister, she is
dragged into his corrupt world in an unwitting alliance with the
environmentalist, Tris. And for Max, that’s really bad news. Will he
hold up under the coordinated attacks of two angry women? Will Annie
find the inner peace that has escaped her so far? As things spin
completely out of control and complications mount, it’s all Max can do
to stay one step ahead—until it’s all he can do to stay alive!

A farce full of hysterics and wholehearted chicanery, Frederick Lee
Brooke’s first installment of the Annie Ogden mysteries is an incisive
examination of corporate lunacy, greed and modern disconnection. Having
received multiple four and five-star reviews on Amazon and
Goodreads.com, Doing Max Vinyl: An Annie Ogden Mystery is loaded with
razor-sharp dialogue, ingenious plotting—and so much fun it should be
illegal! From Goodreads.com

In this groundbreaking
book, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Amir Levine and psychologist
Rachel S. F. Heller reveal how an understanding of attachment theory-the
most advanced relationship science in existence today-can help us find
and sustain love. Attachment theory forms the basis for many bestselling
books on the parent/child relationship, but there has yet to be an
accessible guide to what this fascinating science has to tell us about
adult romantic relationships-until now.

Attachment theory owes
its inception to British psychologist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby, who
in the 1950s examined the tremendous impact that our early
relationships with our parents or caregivers has on the people we
become. Also central to attachment theory is the discovery that our need
to be in a close relationship with one or more individuals is embedded
in our genes.

In Attached, Levine and Heller trace how
these evolutionary influences continue to shape who we are in our
relationships today. According to attachment theory, every person
behaves in relationships in one of three distinct ways:

*ANXIOUS people are often preoccupied with their relationships and tend
to worry about their partner's ability to love them back.

*AVOIDANT people equate intimacy with a loss of independence and constantly try to minimize closeness.

*SECURE people feel comfortable with intimacy and are usually warm and loving.

Attached
guides readers in determining what attachment style they and their mate
(or potential mates) follow. It also offers readers a wealth of advice
on how to navigate their relationships more wisely given their
attachment style and that of their partner. An insightful look at the
science behind love, Attached offers readers a road map for building stronger, more fulfilling connections. From Goodreads.com

A revelatory
examination of the most significant demographic shift since the Baby
Boom--the sharp increase in the number of people who live alone--that
offers surprising insights on the benefits of this epochal changeIn
1950, only 22 percent of American adults were single. Today, more than
50 percent of American adults are single, and 31 million--roughly one
out of every seven adults--live alone. People who live alone make up 28
percent of all U.S. households, which makes them more common than any
other domestic unit, including the nuclear family. In GOING SOLO,
renowned sociologist and author Eric Klinenberg proves that these
numbers are more than just a passing trend. They are, in fact, evidence
of the biggest demographic shift since the Baby Boom: we are learning to
go solo, and crafting new ways of living in the process.Klinenberg
explores the dramatic rise of solo living, and examines the seismic
impact it's having on our culture, business, and politics. Though
conventional wisdom tells us that living by oneself leads to loneliness
and isolation, Klinenberg shows that most solo dwellers are deeply
engaged in social and civic life. In fact, compared with their married
counterparts, they are more likely to eat out and exercise, go to art
and music classes, attend public events and lectures, and volunteer.
There's even evidence that people who live alone enjoy better mental
health than unmarried people who live with others and have more
environmentally sustainable lifestyles than families, since they favor
urban apartments over large suburban homes. Drawing on over three
hundred in-depth interviews with men and women of all ages and every
class, Klinenberg reaches a startling conclusion: in a world of
ubiquitous media and hyperconnectivity, this way of life can help us
discover ourselves and appreciate the pleasure of good company.With
eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who
go solo, Klinenberg upends conventional wisdom to deliver the
definitive take on how the rise of living alone is transforming the
American experience. GOING SOLO is a powerful and necessary assessment
of an unprecedented social change. From Goodreads.com

Inside an old German
U-Boat rusting on the bottom of the Baltic are millions in gold bars,
stolen art, and a secret that could tear NATO apart. The only one who
knows the truth is Mike Randall, a battle-scarred American who survived
four months in the frozen Hell of northern Germany at the end of the
war. When he does speak up, he puts a target on his own forehead, one
which the Russians, the West Germans, the U-boat’s former owners, the
Israeli Mossad, and even his own government quickly take aim at. Some
want the gold, some want him dead, and some want proof about a
high-ranking spy inside NATO itself. Randall’s wants are much simpler.
Caught between the Kremlin and a new, deadly, 4th Reich, he wants
revenge and to satisfy some old debts with a steel-jacketed bullet. From Goodreads.com